Is the Sitemap Inspector free?
Yes. It is free to use and runs entirely in your browser with no account required.
Does it upload my sitemap?
No. It parses the XML you paste or load locally, so your sitemap data never leaves your device.
Can it inspect a sitemap index?
Yes. Both urlset documents and sitemapindex files that point to child sitemaps are supported.
Does it fetch a remote sitemap URL?
No. This tool works from pasted XML or a local file rather than crawling a live URL, which keeps the check private and works for staging sites.
What issues does it flag?
It counts URLs and child sitemaps and flags obvious problems such as missing loc values and duplicate URLs.
Why does my sitemap fail to parse?
The most common cause is an unescaped ampersand inside a URL with query parameters. XML requires &. Other frequent causes are a byte order mark or stray whitespace before the XML declaration, and a PHP warning printed above the opening tag by the generator.
Does it check whether my URLs actually work?
No. It reads structure only. Listing a URL that redirects, returns a 404, or carries a noindex tag is the most common reason a sitemap underperforms, and finding those requires fetching each URL, which this browser-only tool does not do. Use Search Console's sitemap report for that half of the job.
Do priority and changefreq matter?
Google ignores both. They were part of the original 2005 sitemap protocol and have had no effect on Google crawling for years. The inspector does not read them, which is deliberate. loc is what matters, and lastmod matters only if it is honest.
Can it read a sitemap index?
Yes. It detects the root element and reports the type as urlset or sitemapindex. For an index it lists the child sitemaps rather than page URLs. It does not follow the children, so inspect each child file separately by pasting it in.
How many URLs belong in one sitemap file?
The protocol allows up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Beyond that you need multiple sitemap files listed in a sitemap index. In practice, smaller thematic sitemaps are easier to debug because Search Console reports coverage per file.
Is the XML sent anywhere?
No. The XML is parsed by your browser's own DOMParser and nothing leaves the page. That makes it usable for staging sitemaps or internal sites that are not reachable from the public internet.